Boundless Bio, Inc.

Contineum Therapeutics' stock is set to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market this morning under the ticker “CTNM.” Contineum Therapeutics has lowered its IPO expectations as the Johnson & Johnson-partnered biotech prepares to make the jump to the public markets this morning Friday, April 5. The San Diego-based company set out plans earlier this week to sell 8.8 million shares priced between $16 and $18 apiece. Assuming that the final price fell in the middle of this range, Contineum had been estimating net proceeds of $136.6 million. However, the biotech revealed yesterday evening that not only was it pricing its shares at the bottom end of that range—$16 apiece—but the number of shares on offer had dropped almost 2 million to 6.87 million. Still, even this more modest offering is set to bring in gross proceeds of $110 million. That amount could swell by an additional $16.5 million if underwriters take up their 30-day option to buy 1.03 million shares at the same price. The company’s stock is set to list on the Nasdaq Global Select Market this morning under the ticker “CTNM.” The biotech’s leadership will be hoping they receive the warm welcome experienced by most of their peers that have also taken the IPO plunge this year. Contineum’s most recent predecessor, Boundless Bio, hasn’t been so lucky. After launching at $16 per share for its $100 million IPO last week, the precision oncology company has seen its stock lose almost a fifth of its value to close at $13 yesterday. Contineum, a biotech previously called Pipeline Therapeutics, plans to use part of its IPO haul to fund phase 1b and 2 trials of its lead drug candidate in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). The molecule, PIPE-791, is designed to inhibit LPA1, a receptor studies suggest may drive scarring in IPF and promote neuroinflammation and limit remyelination in MS. The biotech has also earmarked a chunk of today’s proceeds for a phase 2 trial of PIPE-307, the drug candidate covered by the J&J agreement, in relapsing-remitting MS. The terms of the J&J deal require Contineum to run a phase 2 trial in the indication. Enrollment in the study began in November. Contineum had run up an accumulated deficit of $75 million pursuing remyelination and other projects by the end of last year. The spending left the biotech with $125 million in cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities from its private financing rounds, which include an $80 million series C it closed in 2021. Editor's note: This story was updated to correct that Boundless Bio was the second-most recent biotech to launch an IPO. 

The first quarter saw a hopeful glimmer in the IPO markets with a handful of biotechs taking the plunge, while Big Pharmas snapped up some small but impactful late-stage companies via M&A. Editor’s note: Last year, we compiled a list of M&A as it happened through our tracker. This year, we’re taking a different approach with a quarterly wrap putting deal activity into context, with M&A and IPOs. Read on for Fierce Biotech’s Quarterly IPO and M&A Roundup. M&A The award for the biggest M&A deal of the first quarter of 2024 goes to Gilead Sciences, which acquired CymaBay Therapeutics for $4.43 billion in February, according to a review of data from market intelligence platform S&P Capital IQ. Following Gilead was Novartis’ $2.77 billion buyout of cancer specialist MorphoSys, then AstraZeneca’s $2.41 billion outlay for Fusion Pharmaceuticals. All three of these deals spoke to the Big Pharma trend of snapping up small-bite biotechs with a late-stage tilt. Novartis specifically eyed MorphoSys’ pelabresib, which is being developed with Incyte’s Jakafi (ruxolitinib) in patients with myelofibrosis. Another gem of the portfolio was tulmimetostat, an early-stage dual inhibitor of the EZH2/EZH1 proteins currently in trials for solid tumors and lymphomas. The deal worked out to 68 euros ($73) per share, according to the companies’ announcement. AstraZeneca, meanwhile, slid into the radiopharmaceutical field thanks to Fusion, which boasts a PSMA-directed radiotherapy called FPI-2265, which is in a phase 2 test for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. The two companies had worked together since 2020. The deal marked a 97% premium to Fusion’s closing price the day before the March 19 announcement. Shareholders are up for another $400 million in milestones. Gilead's deal saw it pay out $32.50 per share in cash, a 27% premium to CymaBay's closing price as of Feb. 9. The transaction brings the primary biliary cholangitis med seladelpar into the Big Pharma’s fold, a med that was submitted to the FDA in December 2023. Other big names making deals in the quarter were Johnson & Johnson, which bought Ambrx Biopharma for $2 billion; Novo Nordisk, which used some of its Wegovy/Ozempic cash to buy out Cardior Pharmaceuticals for $1.11 billion; and AstraZeneca again, which also picked up Amolyt Pharma for $1.05 billion. Further down the list, some smaller drug developers got in on the action, but mostly for reverse mergers and smaller pickups of companies or assets in deep trouble. One example is XOMA Corp. swooping in to save Kinnate Biopharma in February for $113 million. Kinnate began a slow slide almost exactly a year ago when phase 1 data for the pan-RAF inhibitor exarafenib in patients with advanced solid tumors harboring oncogenic BRAF or NRAS alterations disappointed at the American Association for Cancer Research 2023 annual meeting. The company cut 70% of staff in September 2023 and narrowed its pipeline. Avrobio also found a savior in Tectonic Therapeutic to execute a reverse merger with. The deal helped drum up $130.7 million in new financing from a handful of venture firms, leaving the new company with $165 million in cash and equivalents to move on with. https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/17394821/   IPOs The first quarter saw a hopeful glimmer in the IPO markets with a handful of companies announcing plans to take the plunge. The largest was CG Oncology, which had a total transaction value of $380 million and net proceeds of $353.4 million, according to S&P Capital IQ. The oncolytic immunotherapy company was the first of the year, announcing Jan. 2 and setting off a rush of biotechs following suit. Kyverna Therapeutics was one of them, filing the paperwork Jan. 16 to raise the second-highest amount of the quarter at $319 million with net proceeds of $297.7 million. After that initial rush, the action tailed off with a few more here and there throughout the quarter. The last to head for the public markets in the quarter was Contineum Therapeutics, a J&J-allied company developing a candidate in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and progressive multiple sclerosis. The total transaction value of the IPO was $158.4 million with net proceeds not yet available. Boundless Bio also wrapped things up at the beginning of March, raising a modest $100 million for its precision oncology work. The company priced the 6.25 million shares at $16 apiece, right in the middle of the $15 to $17 planned range.  https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/17397483/

Contineum set terms on Monday for its public debut, which could help benchmark the market’s enthusiasm for biotech IPOs as the most recent emergents on NASDAQ have struggled to keep their share prices up.The neurology and inflammation-focused company proposed to sell 8.8 million shares at a range of $16 to $18 each; at the midpoint, Continuum would raise $149.6 million. The funds are expected to fuel clinical development of Contineum’s two lead oral small molecules. LPA1R antagonist PIPE-791 has finished Phase I studies for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and progressive multiple sclerosis (MS); and M1 muscarinic receptor antagonist PIPE-307 is in Phase II testing for relapsing/remitting MS.Johnson & Johnson, which has an exclusive worldwide licence to PIPE-307, plans to start a Phase II trial of the candidate this year to treat depression.All but three biotechs are trading down from their 2024 debuts. Cell therapy company Kyverna Therapeutics and cancer drug developer ArriVent Therapeutics are hovering just above their initial offering prices, and CG Oncology – which seemingly broke a two-year IPO drought with its massively upsized offering in January – is up 125%. The latest to go public, cancer-focused Boundless Bio, has slipped about 15% after raising $100 million in March.